Industrial regions Humber and Teesside have joined forces in a bid to win government backing for carbon capture and storage deployment.
Northern Endurance Partnership has submitted the East Coast Cluster plan to Whitehall, with the potential to wipe out almost half of the 海角视频’s industrial emissions.
The collaboration between leading companies aims to advance the government’s world-leading ambition to establish the first ‘net zero’ carbon industrial cluster in the 海角视频 by 2040. It would also advance emerging low carbon and hydrogen.
As previously revealed, NEP is developing the offshore infrastructure to transport CO2 from industrial emitters that are part of the Net Zero Teesside and Zero Carbon Humber projects to the Endurance aquifer in the southern North Sea.
It is estimated it could support 25,000 jobs, furthering opportunities in engineering and technology.
Andy Lane, managing director of NEP, said: “The 海角视频 needs to decarbonise industry to reach net zero. Nearly half of all carbon emissions from 海角视频 industrial clusters come from the Humber and Teesside, making the East Coast Cluster the single biggest opportunity to decarbonise 海角视频 industry.
“Hundreds of thousands of jobs have relied on the industries which have grown in these regions and the East Coast Cluster, by decarbonising hard-to-abate industries, aims to keep it that way, while developing a platform for 海角视频 industry to compete on a global scale.”
A total of 27 million tonnes of CO2 have been identified for capture and storage - with potential to ship in from other clusters too.
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Grete Tveit, senior vice president for low carbon solutions at Equinor, a partner of all three projects, said: “Carbon capture and storage and hydrogen are both crucial technologies for reaching the goals of the Paris Agreement.”
“To deliver them at scale and create real change we need collaboration like never before. And this is what we are doing with our bid to create the East Coast Cluster, working with our partners in the Humber, Teesside and the Northern Endurance Partnership. We can deliver deep decarbonisation of these major industrial regions and help the 海角视频’s journey to net zero, safeguard jobs and develop world-leading industries.”
Cross-party support has been received with business organisations CBI and Hull and East Yorkshire LEP pledging their backing.
Individually all three elements received backing from the Department for Business Energy and Industrial Strategy to take forward initial engineering design work in March.
Emma Hardy, MP for Hull West and Hessle, said: “In the Humber we have many world-leading industries that are looking to cut their emissions to remain competitive in the transition to net zero. The collaboration between the Humber and Teesside in the East Coast Cluster will future-proof both industrial regions, tackle half of the 海角视频’s cluster emissions, and create new high-skill, low-carbon jobs for our people.
“Progressing the East Coast Cluster would show the 海角视频 is backing its climate ambitions with actions.”
Ben Houchen, Tees Valley Mayor, added: “The success of this project is not only crucial for achieving net zero, but also a way of ensuring good-quality, well-paid jobs are supported across Teesside, Darlington and Hartlepool for generations to come.
“The Net Zero Teesside project, which is joining other clean energy initiatives at Teesworks, will position our region as a leader in innovation and the sector. I’m pleased that we can work with our neighbours in the Humber to deliver an even more positive impact for the whole 海角视频.”